Believe

As another academic year draws to a close and the graduating Grade 12 students begin their lives as fully fledged adults with a certificate that opens doors for them, it is my hope that they leave with a sense of purpose. Increasingly, we are seeing young people who lack this idea of purpose and motivation in their lives and for me it all starts with one word - belief.

This week my son asked me what my first experience of leadership was and who inspired me to want to lead. I am reminded in these moments that I am someone that my kids look up to and sometimes that position of responsibility is daunting. 'Leader' is such a broad term and while you perhaps would describe as not particularly having any rungs on the ladder in terms of leadership positions - I am a Dean of Students and flirted with being a Head of Department a few times in my 20 years as a teacher but its not like i run a multi million dollar enterprise or am the principal of a school. So why should I be giving advice on what it is to be a leader to my son or anyone else for that matter? Who am I to give advice to anyone when I am pretty far from perfect myself? I just have self-belief that what I have to say is valuable for those people that receive it and that really is the point...

'If you don't have belief, then you have no chance at all' - Arsene Wenger

For those that know me I have been a lifelong Arsenal fan (please don't stop reading if you are a Spurs fan, I promise not to mention 1961...oops) and our most successful team of the last 50 years is arguably the Invincible's season in 2003/4 where the team, under the guidance of Wenger, managed to complete an entire season in England's top flight football division unbeaten. It is a feat that has yet to be emulated and while that football team were incredible and littered with world class players, it was the belief that they had to begin with that drove them towards such an achievement. Even the most die hard of Arsenal fans would have forgotten just how close we came to not achieving the impossible since the moniker 'Invincible' is such a source of pride for our supporters.

The season previous, Wenger had made the bold claim in a pre-season press conference that he sees no reason why his team could not go an entire season without being beaten. This was in an era with a dominant Manchester United led by the quite magnificent Sir Alex Ferguson and so he was heavily criticised for the arrogance and outlandish statement. Of course when the team lost for the first time during that season, the ridicule became even stronger and the fans and the press and the collective football intelligencia simply said that it would be 'impossible'. To cut a long story short, the very next season that same team went on to achieve the impossible and won the premier league without losing a match in the entire season. So much can be said about the galvanising effect that the failure to do so the previous season had on that team (again, we will discuss this in a later post) but without the belief instilled by one man and a vision and his ability to translate that, they would never have come close to this remarkable achievement.

There are countless examples of this in the sporting world from the Olympics, to the NFL and any achievement worth discussing you will find the same concept at the core - belief.

I am deeply passionate about teaching young people especially that to have a deep regard for yourself and to have a positive self image is perhaps the single most important thing. The outside world is simply a reflection of the inside world and I am a firm believer in the fact that what is going on inside of you has a MASSIVE effect on the way that you experience your life. A great friend of mine (and a fantastic educator) called Ant used to say to young people that are experiencing conflict in their lives, that we are quick to point the finger of blame at others and fire vitriol at others if we don't like what we see. When you point the finger of blame and aim at others, you'll find that there are 3 fingers pointed back at you - point at an object 10m away from you if you are wondering what I mean. You will see those curled fingers pointed back at you. He used to say that whatever you put out into the world comes back to you 3 fold - in a kind of homage to Karma - and that you simply need to choose what you put out.

So when my son asked me about my journey into leadership and who inspired me - essentially who was my hero - I replied that beyond my parents (who i will be eternally grateful for giving me a start in life) that a man called Jim Stynes was my inspiration and the closest thing I ever had to a hero. Jim Stynes list of achievements in his life eclipse mine and his platform as an Irishman who came to Australia to come and play AFL, facing adversity and earning himself the title of Brownlow medalist (MVP for that season for those not in the know) is all the inspiration that I needed. Couple that with the fact that he created a non-profit organisation called the Reach Foundation out of Melbourne Australia and you have a formidable human being (www.reach.org.au). The Reach foundation is set up to (among other things) help young people to find their inner voice and improve their own sense of self and provide opportunities to pay this forward by working with young people that may be a bit lost or lack the ability to believe in themselves. Harnessing philosophies that reference narrative psychology and elements of positive psychology, the organisation have inspired thousands and continue to be a positive influence and improved the lives of young people in Australia for 30 years.

At its core, the foundation seeks for young people to understand that they already have on board all that they need in order to become successful at whatever they choose to direct their energy. Its just that sometimes this belief is shrouded in darkness from trauma or negative experiences, a difficult background where support was lacking or even abuse was prevalent. Essentially the self-belief is buried so deep beneath layer upon layer of negative experience that without a helping hand, the individual is virtually unable to single-handedly change their circumstances. Often what that young person needs is someone to 'believe' in them and encourage them to tap into that potential that lies within us all to achieve great things. The 'belief' is simply the catalyst, the spark that ignites the furnace that then drives and motivates and like the Wenger quote if that spark never comes then neither does the success.

You couple this with a desire or a goal and a unrelenting work ethic and a human being is simply unstoppable. Impossible becomes I'Mpossible and incredible things can happen.

This year I have run with the theme of Ted Lasso, the hit TV show on Apple+. If you have yet to see this fantastic show, please do yourself a favour and watch the show. It is simply like chicken soup for the soul in TV format and the underlying philosophy is about people becoming the best version of themselves. This TV show and it's underpinning philosophy will need its own post but essentially without us as individuals striving to believe in our own abilities we are selling the world short of who we CAN be and who we are SUPPOSED to be. Like Jim Stynes said, the reasons there are books that were never written, songs never sung, Olympic medals never won, relationships never forged, businesses never started, podcasts never broadcast and websites never created with some sound advice for my own kids...is because we lack the 'belief' that we are worthy to put it out there and that the fear of failure is so strong because of the noise from the naysayers of the world and the judgement and criticism.

'Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside of you greater than any obstacle' - Christian D. Larson

It all starts with the belief.